


be wherever you are

by cryoreal



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bakery, Cunnilingus, F/M, Fluff, I'm a hoe for Chicago, Photography, Smut, Soft Ben Solo, Stranger photoshoot, Strangers to Lovers, Tropes, Two idiots fall in love, ben has a freckles kink, shameless fluff, tricksy stormpilot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:07:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26367682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryoreal/pseuds/cryoreal
Summary: “Think about our friendship, Benny! Are you going to wash twenty years of brotherhood down the drain because you’re camera shy?”Ben heaved a long, heavy sigh, cradling his phone to his cheek. “You know I hate it when you pull the brotherhood card.”“... Is that a yes?”Lake Michigan spread out ahead of him, the waves twinkling up at him through the windows. “I want to see her first.”“Ben, buddy, you can’t. That’s the whole point of it being strangers. It’s all about the element of surprise!”*****Or, Poe has the idea to do a strangers photoshoot and runs with it.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 209
Collections: Ijustfellintothissendhelp





	be wherever you are

**Author's Note:**

> This is so cheesy I'm almost ashamed I wrote it (BUT I'M NOT). If you haven't seen the trend going around lately (well, pre-pandemic, but still), lots of photographers were running these dreamy photoshoots where they take a couple of strangers, throw them together in front of a camera, and see what shots they can get. They're cute and adorable and I would totally do one if I wasn't monogamously married. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“I’ll buy you a bottle of Lagavulin. 11 year. NO - 16 year. Please, Ben. I’m begging. Look, I’m literally on my knees, begging.”

“There is not a single bottle of scotch in the world that will make me take fake, cutesy photos for you, Poe. And begging on your knees doesn’t count when I can’t see you.”

“Two bottles, then. Please. This is such a huge opportunity for me. A friend of Finn’s has already agreed and I know this is going to be good. I can feel it.”

“No.”

“Think about our friendship, Benny! Are you going to wash twenty years of brotherhood down the drain because you’re camera shy?”

Ben heaved a long, heavy sigh, cradling his phone to his cheek. “You know I hate it when you pull the brotherhood card.”

“... Is that a yes?”

Lake Michigan spread out ahead of him, the waves twinkling up at him through the windows. “I want to see her first.”

“Ben, buddy, you can’t. That’s the whole point of it being strangers. It’s all about the element of surprise!”

The waves crashed against the shore relentlessly. 

“You owe me.”

*****

“Give me the rundown one more time?” 

“Okay. It’s essentially a couples photo shoot, except you’re not a couple and you’ve never met each other. But you’re going to _pretend_ like you’re a real-life, in love couple. Poe will lead you around the gardens, you’ll be adorable and fun, he’ll snap some photos of the action, he gets to run his huge spread in the magazine and you get the pleasure of… having your photos taken at an expensive botanic garden?”

“You’re lucky I love you guys.” Rey smiled cheekily as she dusted flour off of her hands. “Do you think Poe would mind taking a few headshots for me before his friend gets there? I’d like to advertise a little more, maybe get the bakery some overhead by personalizing our website.”

“Poe would do nearly anything you asked at this point. Remember those little tart things you made for his meeting with Amilyn? He’s convinced that they’re what got him the magazine gig in the first place.” 

“Oh, those were nice.” She had saved the leftover scraps of crust and bits of peach and strawberry and made them into a sort of crumble the next day. 

“Anyway, my lunch is almost over. We’ll see you this evening?” Finn stood from his designated stool in the back of the bakery, shoving his phone back into his bag. 

“You’ll pick me up at 5?” Rey leaned over to press a quick kiss to his cheek as he passed by on his way to the back door, her hands busily shaping an identical pair of bread loaves. 

“On the dot, peanut.” His beaming, happy smile, backlit by the midday sun, was one of her favorite sights to see. She kept it close to her heart for the rest of her short workday, excusing herself from the shop around 2 and leaving it in Kaydel’s capable hands for the rest of the day. 

It may not have been a real couple shoot, with a dedicated partner who loved her, but Rey wanted to pretend like it was. 

She styled her hair into soft, loose waves, futzing the ends this way and that until they didn’t look so split. She kept her makeup light and natural, hoping that a garden setting with low light would do her poor skin some favors. Opening a bakery at 5 AM every day didn’t give a girl much time for a ten-step skin care regimen. 

For what had to be the hundredth time in the past week, Rey wondered who she would partner with for the photos. Finn had given her absolutely no hints at all. She’d flipped through endless possibilities - would it be tight blonde curls and deep skin, a woman’s wide smile shining up at her? Would it be a tan complexion close to hers, a slim body to pull tight to her curves? 

She was restless by 4:30. 

It felt like a date. She knew it wasn’t a date. It was a favor for Poe. 

…. It felt like a date. 

******

 _It’s not a date,_ he reminded himself for the hundredth time. 

His palms were sweaty. 

His fingers drummed against the steering wheel anxiously. He had arrived early - it wasn’t quite 6:15, and he wasn’t supposed to meet them at the entry until 6:30. He slumped over until his face hit his knuckles, and then fished around the passenger seat for his phone to text Poe.

_Hey, I’m a little early. Are you here yet?_

**We’re here!! Poe is just finishing up a few other shots. C’mon in and I’ll meet you near the gate.**

Ben made his way inside the park, stuffing his hands into his pockets to try and seem relaxed. It was a nice day, he admitted to himself begrudgingly. One of those in the late summer where it’s warm but not unbearably so, the wind from the lake cooling the air even this far away from the coast. He was grateful his shirt was long-sleeved, although he had rolled them up just below his elbows. 

“Ben! It’s good to see you again, man.” Finn was grinning up at him, nearly bouncing on his heels. 

“Hey. Where are we headed? This place seems pretty huge.”

“Oh, it’s so nice here. Yeah, we’re not going far - just down this way to the waterfall garden first. Depending on how much time we have, I think Poe wants to head over to the oak meadow too, and maybe Evening Island? We’ll see how things go, though.”

His heart was pounding aggressively, echoing in his ears and damming up his hearing. Ben spotted Poe’s wild curls from a hundred feet away. His face was lit up in animation, excitement clear in the flailing of his limbs. His speaking partner was faced away, but Ben studied the back of her body carefully while she couldn’t see him doing so. 

She was in a smooth yellow dress, nipped in at the waist and flared at the hips, her calves shapely and soft with the prop of her heels. Thin straps left her shoulders bare, and as he and Finn drew close, Ben could see what must have been hundreds of tiny freckles dotted across her upper back and neck.

She turned at the sound of approaching footsteps, and when her face beamed up at them, Ben could swear he saw every sunrise in his life flash before him. 

*****

 _Oh, fuck me,_ Rey moaned inwardly. Her friends were the _worst._

The man in front of her was stacked like a menace, a brick house set in hard lines around his face and mouth. She saw her celebratory pub dash swirling down the drain as she looked at the stony set of his shoulders, the tight muscles in his thighs. There was no way they were getting anything _sweet_ or _loving_ out of this literal ice block of a man. 

“Thanks so much, babe,” Poe tugged Finn into his side happily. “Rey, Ben. Ben, Rey. Ben’s my best buddy from childhood and Rey is practically Finn’s sister.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rey smiled politely. His face… did not move. _Great._

“Nice to meet you as well.” No smile. Not even a flick of an eyebrow. She cast a nervous glance over at her friends… who seemed entirely unconcerned. 

Poe led them to a small bridge overlooking a lovely waterfall, burbling at them in the late summer light. 

“Okay, guys. Ben, put an arm around her waist. No, tighter… there you go. Rey, a hand on his chest, please. Lose the sunglasses, too, Ben, we need to see your eyes.”

Rey felt stiff, too stiff, as his arm burned a brand into her lower back. This was supposed to be like a couple’s photo, and he wouldn’t even look at her! His eyes were darting everywhere but her face, and her hand felt awkward and tight on his chest. How could she look like she loved him if he wouldn’t face her?

“Maybe a little… looser?” Poe called from somewhere to the side, and Rey sighed inwardly. 

She took the hand from his chest and stroked it upward, finding the soft bone underneath the top of his cheek. “Ben, right?” She whispered, smoothing her thumb over his face, and he blinked down at her like he was coming up for air after burning his lungs to the point of breaking underwater. 

“Yes.”

“I know this is probably uncomfortable for you, but it might help if you looked at me?”

He stared down at her, eyes blown wide and lips open. “This is all a bit… much, honestly. Can I have a minute?”

She could feel his heart hammering away underneath her cheek, so she agreed quietly, “Sure thing.”

Poe had been silent for a moment other than the occasional snap of his camera shutter, and Rey had to wonder if it was because they were doing well or extraordinarily badly. She leaned towards the latter. She wanted Ben to be comfortable, though, so she tucked herself into the curve of his arm and rested her cheek on the soft fabric covering his chest. It was a soft midnight blue, nearly black, and she stroked her fingers over his heart again and again, hoping that she was helping to soothe whatever anxiety he was feeling.

Rey had always been good with strangers. It was a perk of bouncing from family to family, of never quite belonging anywhere - you learn to smile at the right places, how to end conversations gracefully, how to slip away when you’re no longer needed. Romantic relationships weren’t as easy, but it was the same sort of feeling in her chest - lean in when they do, soothe the hurts, smooth the conversations. 

“They wouldn’t tell me anything about you before you got here, so I’m betting you don’t know anything about me either.” She kept smoothing her fingers over the soft fabric, her other hand curled around the middle of his back. “I own a bakery over in Glenview, just a little place. I opened it a few years ago and we’re doing okay. I love my work, which is not something everyone can say, and it’s enough to live on, which is plenty for me. Um, I have a cat, she’s orange, her name is Papaya.” She felt a small rumble under her cheek at that, and she glanced up through her eyelashes to see the slightest hint of a smile curling upward on his lips. “Something funny about that?”

“I’m sorry, you named your cat Papaya?” 

“She’s orange,” Rey bristled slightly, eyebrows drawn together in mock anger, and he chuckled out loud that time. 

“That’s adorable.”

“She’s a menace, honestly, she leaves fur on everything I own, so there’s that. Do you have any pets?”

“Just a few plants, really. Succulents.”

“Oh, I love succulents!” She twisted in his arms to look up at him. “I have a few strings of pearls at home, they’re so dainty looking. My favorite is my Mexican snowball though, it keeps spreading and spreading and I have to keep repotting it, it’s so hardy. What kind are yours?”

“Um.” His face scrunched up cutely. “Green?”

“Oh my god,” she muttered under her breath, instinctively making a face. It startled her, then, when he let out a full laugh, albeit a short one. She leaned back in the circle of his arms and poked the muscle of his chest, hard. “Don’t laugh at me for trying to make conversation!” 

“I’m sorry, it’s just - you looked so offended that I didn’t know what kind they are, but I just _don’t,_ okay, they were a gift from my mother and I’ve only kept them because I don’t need to even look at them to keep them happy and alive, they’re honestly a blessing.” 

“Succulents are great like that. I’ve got one that’s moved with me through, I’m not kidding, six different apartments and thirteen different pots - _no,_ don’t laugh, Papaya went through a whole phase where she kept knocking them off of the shelf - and it’s still alive and happy.”

“I bet your plants are very happy,” Ben murmured, his hands moving for the first time to stroke up her back, and her breath caught in her throat. 

Oh, but he was _cute._

She hadn’t really paid attention to it yet, still trying to settle in to this odd experience, but between the broad chest and the sharp jaw and the clearly groomed eyebrows, he was attractive. He was smiling now, his eyes just crinkling at the corners, and she felt her heart swoop down to her stomach in one stroke. 

_Shit._ ***** He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but something about this woman was putting him totally at ease. She was just so… soft. Her fingers stroked over his heart, smooth and even, and her full lips brushed over his sternum every few words. She felt like she fit there, right between his chin and his chest. He wanted to tug her closer and stroke his hands up her back. He wanted to grab fistfuls of her lush hips and nip at her pouty lower lip. “Okay, let’s reposition this a little,” Poe said eagerly, and Ben almost jumped out of his skin. For a moment, he had forgotten that Poe and Finn were watching the two of them. They ended up with Rey perched on the thin balcony, Ben standing between her legs. Their faces were nearly even, and Ben winced unconsciously as she had to spread her legs a little wider to accommodate his large frame. “Can I touch your hair?” Rey looked at him bashfully, her fingers nearly twitching on his upper arms. When he nodded his assent, she raked her nails gently through his locks, scratching a bit at his scalp in the process, and he nearly moaned. She fussed his hair this way and that, letting the strands slide through her fingers, and he shut his eyes happily. This was… this was… _sublime._ He’d never had anyone be so comfortable around him before, He felt a bit like an overgrown cat, purring in her arms while she petted him. 

His eyes had fluttered shut and he held the tuck of her waist contentedly. He wanted to nap on her chest in the sunlight, warm and happy. He wanted to tuck her into the covers on his bed until she was snuggled like a burrito. He wanted to forget that his best friend was watching him melt like an overwarm sundae on a summer day in the hands of a woman that he only met twenty minutes ago. 

*****

Rey couldn’t believe her luck. 

Her earlier assumptions were wrong. She was afraid she’d be working with stone, but instead she held soft clay in her hands - soft, malleable, open to change. After she’d stroked his chest and smoothed his hair, he’d softened into her arms. And then the real fun began. 

Poe led them over to the oak meadow and directed them to “Just do whatever feels fun and natural. Pretend I’m not here.” 

They started by sitting down for a few minutes, both of them needing a reprieve from standing still for Poe’s preferred shots. She could almost forget that they were being watched - enjoying the sun on her shoulders and the gentle heat of Ben’s gaze. 

“I love all the plants here,” she sighed happily, her fingers in Ben’s lap. 

“You mentioned you keep some succulents?”

“Yes, a few here and there. I wish I had space for a real garden, but apartment living isn’t the best place. You know how it is.”

He hummed noncommittally, scooting forward so their knees were touching while they sat cross legged. 

“I think once I have a bit more room, I’d like to have a vegetable garden. I keep my succulents because they remind me of home, but I’ve always dreamed of having a real garden. Rows full of squash and potatoes and tomatoes, being able to pick something after I get home from work and cook a meal with it…” 

“That sounds wonderful, honestly. I never thought of having a garden at home.”

“Do you have the space, really?” Her eyes blinked open slowly and he came back into focus, his eyes trained carefully on her face. 

“I have plenty of backyard, I think I could manage if I really wanted.”

“Lucky.” She poked his chest with a wry smile. “You didn’t say - where do you live?” 

“Near Evanston,” he said evasively. 

“Oh, I was up there last year to visit the art museum. Finn got me in, it was lovely.”

Their conversation lapsed and flowed, and she took the time to study him more carefully. He seemed well-off, if she had to guess - his pants were well-tailored and fitted slimly, his boots were unscuffed and expensive. Even his shirt seemed high-quality, and his hair was clearly professionally cut and styled. 

More than that, though, she saw the nervousness and kindness lurking in his deep brown eyes, the laugh lines surrounding his mouth from years of happiness. His muscles were long and wiry, hinting at fitness without being a gym hog. 

In short, he was _just_ her type. 

She took a deep breath, taking in some scent from his cologne, faintly masculine but soothing. There was the soft smell of freshly cut grass all around her, and the everpresent smell of yeast that came from baking dozens of loaves of bread that never seemed to leave her hands and upper arms. 

She flopped down in the grass comfortably, stretching her dress down to cover a bit more of her thighs, and flung her arms wide. 

Poe came over and muttered something to Ben, and she felt him moving around near her, setting and shimmying until his head was even with hers and his legs facing the other direction. When she turned to face him, she could see his long nose and plush lips, just inches from her own.

Her breath caught in her throat again. It was nearly impossible to ignore Poe hovering over them, his camera held high, but she tried her best to shut him out of her mind. Here was a giant specimen of a man, and she wanted to do nothing more than stretch over those few inches and kiss him within an inch of his life. 

_Not a date,_ she reminded herself. _Just a favor._

*****

 _Fuck Poe,_ Ben decided.

Poe _knew_ Ben had a thing for freckles. Rey was close enough that he could count them, splattered across her cheeks and nose. He wanted to kiss every single one of them, count them until she fell asleep draped over his chest, draw lines between them with the tip of his finger until she squirmed. 

“Rey,” he murmured hoarsely, watching her lashes flutter open slowly. “Can I kiss you? For the camera?”

She seemed to nearly startle, casting a quick glance upwards at Poe with a face he couldn’t identify. “Oh, um, yes, of course, sure.”

“Thank you,” he whispered, and _why was he thanking her when he hadn’t even done it yet?_ His breath was coming quick, and he was grateful for the fact that he brushed his teeth no less than three times before leaving the house. He reached his arm out to hold the hand she’d draped over her head, stroking the lines of her long fingers as he scooted his body just a little bit closer. Her hazel eyes were wide, framed by lovely long lashes and the dark swipe of eyeliner, and he wanted to kiss her until she couldn’t open them again. 

When their lips finally met, it felt like he was home. His mother was pulling warm chocolate chip cookies out of the oven that they’d made together, a cat taking up residence on his lap, the comforting drizzle of rain on the bay windows. 

It felt like dark honey hair spread over his chest, the smooth stroke of his hand up and down her slim spine as she napped on his lap. 

It felt like the bite of salt at the end of the caramel, the snap of cayenne at the bottom of your cocoa. 

_Oh no,_ he realized, her lips pulling away with a soft smile, _oh, god, no._

He stumbled through the rest of the shoot in a daze. They kissed again, and again, and again. He draped his arms over and around her every which way. Poe had them pose in what felt like a million different ways - and yet somehow, he didn’t care.

In the middle of every pose were her hazel eyes, flecked through with green and shining so happily. 

At the edge of every glance, he could feel her soft arms and the shapeliness of her stomach.

He was floating and flying through everything, and when Poe asked if he could lift her by the hips, he tossed her in the air instead. She came down with a shriek and a smack to his bicep, but she was laughing the entire time, and followed it up with a sweet, soft kiss to his collarbone.

_Oh no, oh no, oh no. How on earth am I going to let her go?_

When the sun was finally sinking below the treeline, taking away the golden dusting of shadow that Poe had wanted, he clapped his hands excitedly. 

“You guys were _amazing,_ ” Poe gushed, swinging his camera bag up onto his shoulder. “I can’t wait to edit these, honestly, they’re going to be perfect. Let me buy you a drink. No, two drinks. And some food. Fuck, this is great.”

Her hand was still tucked into his, and he found her smiling up at him like it was completely normal for the two of them to be there, standing together, holding each other. “Let’s go!” 

Ben could tell that she had arrived with Poe and Finn, but as they got to the parking lot, she waved them off. “No, I can ride with Ben. Text me the address.”

They were still holding hands.

Oh god, he didn’t want to let go of her hand.

He walked her to his car and opened the passenger side door for her, letting her slide in comfortably. His fingers twitched. 

The second he clambered into his own seat, her hands were on his face, pulling him close to her. The door shut with an inelegant _clunk._

“Ben,” she said, her eyes full and dark and happy, “tell me you feel this too.”

“Oh, god, yes,” he managed to stutter out before her hands pulled him close and she was kissing him again. 

It wasn’t like before - soft pecks meant for the camera, shy brushes where they were aware of an audience. No, now she was hungry for him - and he meant to devour her.

Their lips met again and again, consuming and crashing, his hands smoothing over her hair, stroking the soft skin of her shoulders, her collarbone, the smooth swells of her breast above the line of her dress. She had half his shirt unbuttoned before he could blink, her short nails scratching over his pecs and down his sternum. 

He’d buried his hands in her hair when a loud, shrill ding! startled them apart. She looked so beautiful - hair mussed from his attention, a light flush spreading from her cheeks to her chest, eyes sparkling up at him in the barely-there sunset. 

“We should…” he trailed off, watching the quiver of her lips as she reached for his thigh softly. 

“Yes,” she whispered, “together.” 

They were a bit late to the pub.

When they slid into the empty side of the booth, still hand in hand, faces flushed and eyes looking anywhere but at their respective best friends, Finn let out a triumphant caw and Poe slapped a bill into his waiting hand, dropping his forehead to the table.

“Benny,” he declared, muffled, “you’ve let me down for the last time.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said stiffly. 

“How could you do this to me? I’m your best friend. Best. Friend. Your _brother.”_

“How much did you take him for this time?” Ben asked Finn dryly.

“The big hundo.” Finn’s teeth gleamed white in the dark light of the bar, his hand stroking Poe’s hair affectionately. “It’s not your fault you underestimated our baby Rey again.”

“I did _no such thing._ Ben is a _statue_ when it comes to women. I’ve been trying to set up him for literal decades-”

“Okay, now hold on a second, what?”

“-and for him to just up and fall for the first friend you push his way, honestly, it’s not fair-”

“We’re still sitting right here.”

“-so much effort, wasted, so much hair product, _lost-_ ”

“This might go on for a while, so you might as well order,” Ben muttered out of the corner of his mouth, and Rey laughed, her head tilting back, and - he wanted to lick her throat right there. 

_Down, boy,_ he thought. _I’m willing to wait for it._

The waitress had come up at some point during Poe’s long, whiny diatribe, staring at the four of them in bemusement. 

“Don’t mind him, he’s just having a minor tantrum,” Ben told her. “A pitcher of margaritas for the table, and… I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger, please, and fries.

“Same for me,” Rey chirped from next to him. “I’m starving.”

Her hand wandered to the inside of his thigh, and gave it a subtle, long squeeze. 

His mind filled with fog at her gentle squeezes and strokes, moving up and down the leg of his pants. By the time the fog cleared, the waitress was gone and Finn and Rey were deep into some conversation about crusts and lamination that he couldn’t begin to understand. Poe was still face down on the table. 

It was so strange. Ben felt… _warm._

He slung his arm over her shoulders, and she fit herself into the hollow under his arm like it was made for her. Maybe it was. 

It was nearing on nine o’clock by the time the conversation wound down and the pitcher of booze emptied out. Rey was the first one to shake her head and hint at leaving.

“I have to open up shop in the morning, I should get some rest.” She smiled up at Ben, her nose wrinkling up adorably, and he couldn’t help but smile back. 

“I can take you home.”

“Don’t be silly, Ben, there’s no way it’s on the way for you. Finn and Poe can drop me back off.”

“No, please. I’d like to.”

The couple across the table was watching them eagerly, matching shark’s grins on their faces, as Rey finally conceded and the pair began to slide out of the booth’s cheap vinyl seating. They were off with a wave and a matched set of anticipatory grins, and Finn sighed as he rested his head on Poe’s shoulder.

“They’re so cute together.”

“You’re insane for thinking that scheme would work,” Poe scolded him affectionately.

“Well, it _did.”_

“UGH.”

*****

“Well, here’s me,” Rey grinned up at him, her skin soft and golden from the streetlight. They’d pulled up along the curb near a set of apartment buildings, not too rundown but certainly far from trendy. “I had… a really great time... ” 

“Me, too,” Ben admitted. It had been incredible, hearing her laugh and tapping the tip of her upturned nose and squeezing the soft flesh of her hips. Before he could lose his steam, he blurted out “I’d like to see you again.”

“About that…” she shuffled her feet in the footwell, and Ben’s stomach dropped to his feet. Here it comes - the inevitable _“I had a wonderful time but I think we should stay friends, yeah?”_ that he’d heard from no fewer than five women over the last ten years. He steeled his spine against her rejection.

“I actually don’t have to work in the morning… it was just an excuse to get us away from Finn and Poe. Would you like to come upstairs? For a nightcap, of course,” she added hurriedly, apparently mistaking the stiffening of his spine for disinterest. 

His breath left his lungs in a heavy _whoosh._ “I’d love to.” 

She led him up a set of worn steps by the hand, the carpet peeling away in the corner, up to a deep eggplant-colored door with an almost-rusty knob. It took a swift kick to the bottom corner before the lock would swing free, but then they were inside, and it smelled green and fresh and warm, and her body was pressed against his and his back was pressed to the door, kicking it to latch with the heel of his boot and she was all over him, on top of him and around him, her soft warm smell permeating his senses and surrounding him with _hope_ and love and joy-

He didn’t know if he could make it to her bedroom.

He _needed_ to make it to her bedroom. 

He managed to untangle his hands from the hair at the nape of her neck long enough to walk her backwards, feet tripping over each other and mouths clacking together messily, until she tripped over the back of a chair and he fell down on top of her with a _crash!_

She laughed and laughed underneath him, her eyes sparkling and lips stretched wide, and he thought _oh, god, can it even get better than this?_

She wound her hands around his neck, thumbs tracing the smooth column of his throat, and then smiled, almost lazily, and _yes,_ it could get much better. 

They lay there, smiling like a pair of goofballs, until a _thump_ of weight hit him on the back and - began to vibrate?

“Hi, baby,” Rey whispered, and one of her hands left his neck to reach up over his shoulder and - pet a large lump of fur that had deposited herself on his upper back, purring happily and nuzzling at Rey’s hand. “I think she might like you.”

“I guess we can’t move, then,” Ben chuckled, angling his face to reach her neck and then - _there_ \- licking and sucking at her pulse point while her hand tangled in his hair and her other arm pushed the cat down to the floor and suddenly he was on his back, staring up at her from the hard floor as she grinned down at him. “Want to take this somewhere a little more comfortable?”

“Yes, please,” and it was a blur of laughter and long limbs and the feeling of her hips warm in his hands as she pulled him to his feet, down a hallway and into a room where she had a comfortable looking bed, unmade and tangled sheets - which she looked sheepish about for half a second before he bodily threw her on top of them and then she was back to laughing, plucking the buttons of his shirt open while he tried to get his hands up under her skirt and _oh,_ it felt so sweet to smooth his fingers over the silky soft skin of her thighs.

“Rey,” he breathed, losing himself in the feel of her, before rucking her dress up over her hips, tossing it away and nipping his way down those thighs and he knew right then he’d be thinking about this in his dreams for _years._

She was perfect under him, around him, her small hands lost in his hair again (she must really like his hair, to touch it so much in so few hours) and he kissed and lapped at her center through smooth, worn fabric, loving the way it pulled tight against her lips as they swelled for him.

“May I?” he asked politely, fingering the bands on her hips, and she moaned wordlessly in response, wriggling her hips until he had pulled the offending fabric from her legs and tossed it somewhere onto the floor. 

She was soft and pink and puffy, wet for him already and he groaned happily before diving in.

It wasn’t quick, like he had dreamed when he had his hand wrapped around his cock in the shower. He wanted to take his time, drinking in her heady sighs and the slow stroke of her fingers against his scalp. He paused in his rhythm when her thighs clenched, and then resumed happily, dragging out her pleasure until she was whimpering and whining and squeezing her fingers rhythmically in his hair, and only then did he slide a finger inside her - gently at first, working her open and coating his second finger in her slick before easing that one into her as well, and she twisted over him and _moaned_ and then - yes, shuddered underneath him with a desperate, happy sigh, her ankles locked behind his neck and her tits arching prettily up towards the ceiling.

Oh, he could watch that _forever._

He probably would, every time he closed his eyes for a wank. 

He crawled up her body to… he wasn’t sure what he was about to do, but by the time he made it up to her face, her eyes had slid shut contentedly. 

“That was _incredible,_ ” he told her honestly, feeling like his chest was about to burst, but his only response was a sleepy grumble as she pulled him down next to her. 

“G’sleep,” she mumbled, arms reaching around his body to pull him close, and despite the fact that he was still half dressed, his shirt dangling unbuttoned around his torso, he snuggled himself into her arms. He maneuvered a bit to yank off his constricting pants and toss them in the same general direction her dress had gone, and then pulled the mussed comforter up over their bodies. Her head tucked naturally under his chin as he slipped one leg in between hers, and his heart swelled again.

Right then and there, her little snores rumbling into the hollow of his neck and the warmth of the cat curling up directly behind his bent legs, he felt like he was home. 

*****

Spread out over her coffee table were printed photos. _Dozens_ of them. 

“I only printed the best for you,” Poe had chirped happily before dumping out the contents of a stuffed manila envelope.

She had many favorites. She loved the one where she was in front of the waterfall, cheek pressed firmly to Ben’s chest while he smiled down at her, one hand gently brushing the hair from her cheek. 

She had swooned over the shot where they were several feet apart, connected only by their hands, and you could _just_ see the side of Ben’s face as he stared at her with an expression that could only be defined as _longing._

But her favorite, the absolute best - they were laying opposite each other, surrounded by tall grass and wildflowers, holding hands over her head while Ben kissed her forehead softly, her face beaming and golden from the low sun.

It was - in a word - ideal. She could already see it in a dark wood frame, perched on her desk between a childhood photo of she and Finn, matching gap-toothed smiles at the beach, and the capture of the day she opened the bakery, standing in front of the display window with an open-mouthed grin of utter delight. 

Only the highest place of honor for one of the best days of her life, she decided as the door to her apartment clicked open and Ben bounced through the doorway, bearing bags of takeout and the smile he reserved for seeing her at the end of a long workday - part exhaustion, part delight, but mostly love.

**Author's Note:**

> Extra love to you if you catch the entirely unsubtle Hamilton reference.


End file.
